Custom Home Builder · Nashville, TN
The Nashville homeowner's guide to custom building
What the work involves, what drives the price, what your options are, and what a bad job looks like — written so you can judge any builder in Middle Tennessee, including us.
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By Michael Blair, owner, Nashville's Contractor · who we are
Warning signs
How to know you need us
Recognize one? Have it looked at before it grows.
- You own the land and need somebody to build on it
- Wanting shop space and living space in one building
- Barn quotes that differ so wildly you cannot compare them
- Needing a detached garage that matches the house rather than a kit
- A site that needs grading and drainage before anything can be built
- A builder who will commit to a written schedule
Your options
More than one right answer.
A builder who only ever recommends the most expensive option is not giving you advice. Here is the honest range.
Post-frame
The most economical way to enclose large clear-span space. Barns, shops and barndominiums, built fast and engineered for the loads.
Steel frame
Longer spans and lower maintenance than post-frame, at a higher cost. Right where the span or the use demands it.
Conventional stick-built
Standard residential construction. The right answer for a custom home on a normal lot in a normal subdivision.
Shell only, finish later
Get the building up and weather-tight now, finish the interior as budget allows. Common and sensible on shops and barndominiums.
What it costs
What actually drives the price.
We do not quote custom building over the phone, because an honest number needs somebody to look at the job. These are the things that move it.
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Land and site work
Clearing, grading, a drive, a well or septic and getting power to the site can be a large share of a rural build, and none of it is the house.
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Structure type
Post-frame, steel-frame and conventional stick-built are three different costs per square foot, and the gap widens as the clear span gets bigger.
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Finished versus shell
A barn or shop delivered as a shell is a fraction of one finished as living space. Insulation, mechanicals and interior finish are most of a barndominium budget.
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Span and height
Clear span and eave height drive the engineering. A forty-foot clear span with a fourteen-foot eave is a different building from the same footprint with a post in the middle.
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Permits, engineering and utilities
Stamped plans, permit fees, septic permits and utility connections are real costs on any new structure, and vary considerably by county.
Estimates are free, written and without obligation. Anything found only after starting is priced up front.
What happens
From your call to the finished job.
Site and plan
Four to twelve weeks: survey, soil, plans, engineering and permit. Rural sites add septic and utility lead time.
Site work and foundation
Clearing, grading, drive, then footings or slab. Weather-dependent and the phase most likely to move.
Shell
Frame, roof and enclosure. Post-frame goes up markedly faster than stick-built, which is much of its appeal.
Finish
Mechanicals, insulation, interior finish and final inspection. On a shell-only build this phase simply waits.
Done badly
What goes wrong, and why it matters.
Shortcuts that cheapen the quote and cost you later. Ask anyone you are considering about them.
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Building before the site is understood
Soil, drainage and access decide the foundation and the drive. Finding out after clearing is the expensive order.
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Undersizing the eave height
It costs little at framing and cannot be changed later. Almost nobody regrets the extra foot; a lot of people regret the missing one.
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Treating a barndominium as a barn for permitting
If it will be lived in, it is a residence, and the county will treat it as one at inspection whether or not it was permitted that way.
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No plan for the interior
A shell built without knowing where walls, plumbing and mechanicals will go is a shell that gets cut into later.
Before you hire anyone
Six questions worth asking any builder.
Including us. If a builder cannot answer these easily, that is the answer.
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Are you licensed at the classification and value this project requires?
A Tennessee contractor’s license with the right classification and monetary limit, verifiable online. The number is the answer.
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Has the site work been priced — access, utilities, grading?
Yes, as lines on the estimate. A build priced without the driveway, the taps and the grading is a build that costs a third more.
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Will you pull the permits and schedule the inspections?
Yes, in the builder’s name, with the inspection sequence known. A builder who calls permits a formality treats the inspections the same way.
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Is the contract a scope, a price and a schedule — in one document?
All three, with the allowances stated and the change-order process written. A handshake build is a dispute waiting for the weather.
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Who supervises the subs, and how often are you on site?
A named superintendent and a stated cadence. A build run by phone is the one where the framing is wrong for a week before anyone sees it.
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Are you insured, including workers’ compensation for the crews?
Liability and workers’ comp, with certificates from the insurer. On a job site, the uninsured injury lands on the owner.
FAQ
Choosing a builder in Nashville
How do I choose a builder in Nashville?
Every builder on our crews holds the Tennessee contractor’s license at the classification and value the job requires, carries liability and workers’ compensation coverage, and has both on file with us before a site visit. Ask the six questions below of anyone, including us.
Should I get more than one quote for custom building?
Yes — and compare the scope, not the total. A build in Nashville is priced by the square foot for the structure and by the line for the site work — the drive, the utilities, the septic or the tap fees — and the site work is where two identical buildings on different lots differ by tens of thousands.
Is the cheapest custom building quote usually a bad idea?
Not automatically; a low number is information. A square-foot number with no lot behind it is not an estimate.
Do I need a permit for custom building in Nashville?
Metro Nashville and the surrounding counties permits every structure and inspects it at each stage, and a barndominium or a detached garage is a building like any other; a builder who suggests skipping the permit on an outbuilding is putting your insurance at risk.
How far in advance should I book custom building?
A site visit in Nashville is usually within a couple of weeks; the design and the permit take weeks to months depending on the building, and the build follows the permit.
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